Place Names of San Antonio: Plus Bexar and Surrounding Counties

This much enlarged third edition of a favorite handbook identifies the origins of nearly 1,000 familiar place names in the San Antonio region. Naming sleuth Dr. David P. Green cracks mysteries that puzzled him in earlier editions, and comes up with several hundred new entries as well. There are more than three dozen new illustrations.

We deal with dozens of place names in the course of everyday life—of streets, schools, parks, towns, landmarks. Do the names mean anything beyond labeling where we live, the routes we drive or the places we’re going? Who—or what—is it named for? An Alamo hero or a noted citizen? A vanished family, a favorite pet or simply someone who happened to be around when a name was needed?

Chapters reveal name origins by category—streets, parks, schools, libraries and learning centers, landmarks, military bases, suburbs. Origins of Spanish names are included, as are those of a few names less officially designated—Pace Picante Sauce, the Quarry Market, the San Antonio Spurs, and more. This is a book with answers you’ll be referring to again and again.